Chap. 59.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Sections 774, 783, and 786 as here-
tofore amended, of the Code of Virginia, in relation to the receipt, custody and
disbursement of State funds apportioned and designed for public schools in
cities and towns. [S B 136]

Approved February 27, 1946

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That sections seven hundred seventy-four, seven hundred eighty-
three, and seven hundred eighty-six, as heretofore amended, of the Code
of Virginia, be amended and re-enacted, as follows:

Section 774. An efficient system of public free schools shall be
established and maintained in all the cities and towns constituting separate
school districts of the State.

The public free school system shall be administered by the follow-
ing authorities, to-wit: A State Board of Education, a Superintendent of
Public Instruction, division superintendents of schools, and city school
boards. The provisions of chapter thirty-three, except as provided in this
chapter, shall be applicable to such cities and towns in like manner as to
the counties of the Commonwealth; and city and town school boards, of-
ficers, trustees, and teachers, as well as city and town officers charged
by law with the responsibility for the receipt, custody and disbursement of
the funds of such cities and towns, are charged with reference to the pub-
lic free schools of such cities and towns with the duties and vested with
the powers of and subject to the limitations and penalties imposed upon
similar officers, boards, trustees, and treasurers in the counties by chapter
thirty-three, unless otherwise provided.

Section 783. The State school funds shall be apportioned to cities
separately from the counties. All funds designed for the benefit of public
free schools in each city shall be paid to the officer of the city charged
by law with the responsibility for the receipt, custody and disbursement
of the funds of the city, and shall be kept by such officer in an account
or accounts separate and distinct from all other funds. Such school funds
shall be disbursed only upon the order or authority of the school board
of the city.

Section 786. (a) Every school trustee shall, at the time of his
appointment, be a resident of the school district for which appointed, and
if he shall cease to be a resident thereof, his office shall be deemed vacant.
Before entering upon the discharge of the duties of his office he shall take
and subscribe the oaths prescribed for officers of the State before the
corporation or the circuit court; or, in vacation, before the judge or
clerk of said court, and the clerk of the said court shall make in his rec-
ord book a minute of the qualification of said trustee.

No State officer, except a notary public, no city officer, no member
of council, or any officer thereof, shall during his term of office be chosen
or allowed to act as a school trustee ; but this provision shall not have the
effect of prohibiting a referee in chancery or commissioner 1n bank-
ruptcy, or member of the board of health, from holding such office.

(b) The city school board of every city shall establish and maintain
therein a general system of public free schools in accordance with the
requirements of the Constitution and the general educational policy of the
Commonwealth for the accomplishment of which purpose it shall have
the following powers and duties:

(1) To explain, enforce, and observe the school laws, and to make
rules for the government of the schools, and for regulating the conduct
of pupils going to and returning therefrom.

(2) To determine the studies to be pursued, the methods of teach-
ing, the government to be employed in the schools, and the length of the
school term.

(3) To employ teachers on recommendation of the division super-
intendent and to dismiss them when delinquent, inefficient or in anywise
unworthy of the position; provided, that no school board shall employ
or pay any teacher from the public funds unless the teacher shall hold a
certificate in full force, according to the provisions of section six hundred
sixty of the laws relating to the public free schools in counties; and pro-
vided, further, that it shall not be lawful for the school board of any city
or of any town constituting a separate school district to employ or pay
any teacher or other school board employee from the public funds if
said teacher or other employee is the father, mother, brother, sister, wife,
son, daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law or brother-in-
law of the superintendent or of any member of said board ; provided, how-
ever, that this provision shall not apply to any such relative employed by
any school board at any time prior to the effective date of this act; and
provided, further, that this provision shall not apply to any person with-
in such relationship or relationships who has been regularly employed by
any school board prior to the taking of office of any member of such board
or division superintendent of schools; if the school board violates these
provisions, the individual members thereof shall be personally liable to
refund to the local treasury any amounts paid in violation of this law, and
such funds shall be recovered from members by action or suit in the
name of the Commonwealth at the relation of the attorney for the Com-
monwealth; such funds, when recovered, shall be paid into the local
treasury for the use of the public schools.

(4) To suspend or expel pupils when the prosperity and efficiency
of the school make it necessary.

(5) To decide what children, wishing to enter the schools of the
city, are entitled by reason of poverty of their parents or guardians to
receive textbooks free of charge, and to provide for supplying them ac-
cordingly.

(6) To establish high and normal schools and such other schools
as may, in its judgment, be necessary to the completeness and efficiency
of the school system.

(7) To see that the census of children required by section six hun-
dred and ninety-five is taken within the proper time and in the proper
manner.

(8) To hold regular meetings and to prescribe when and how spe-
cial meetings may be called.

(9) To call meetings of the people of the city for consultation in
regard to the school interests thereof, at which meetings the chairman
or some other member of the board shall preside if present.

(10) To provide suitable schoolhouses, with proper furniture and
appliances, and to care for, manage, and control the school property of
the city. For these purposes it may lease, purchase, or build such houses
according to the exigencies of the city and the means at its disposal. No
schoolhouse shall be contracted for or erected until the plans therefor
shall have been submitted to and approved in writing by the division
superintendent of schools, and no public school shall be allowed in any
building which is not in such condition and provided with such conven-
iences as are required by a due regard to decency and health; and when
a schoolhouse appears to the division superintendent of schools to be
unfit for occupancy, it shall be his duty to condemn the same, and im-
mediately to give notice thereof, in writing, to the chairman of the school
board, and thenceforth no public school shall be held therein, nor shall
any part of the State or city fund be applied to support any school in
such house until the division superintendent shall certify, in writing, to
the city school board that he is satisfied with the condition of such build-
ing, and with the appliances pertaining thereto.

(11) To visit the public free schools within the city, from time to
time, and to take care that they are conducted according to law, and with
the utmost efficiency.

(12) To manage and control the school funds of the city, to pro-
vide for the pay of teachers and of the clerk of the board, for the cost of
providing schoolhouses and the appurtenances thereto and the repairs
thereof, for school furniture and appliances, for necessary textbooks for
indigent children attending the public free schools, and for any other
expenses attending the administration of the public free school system,
so far as the same is under the control or at the charge of the school of-
ficers.

(13) To examine all claims against the school board, and when ap-
proved, to order or authorize the payment thereof. A record of such
approval, order or authorization shall be made in the proceedings of the
board. Payment of each such claim shall be ordered or authorized by a
warrant drawn on the officer of the city charged by law with the re-
sponsibility for the receipt, custody, and disbursement of the funds of
such city. The warrant shall be signed by the chairman of the board
and countersigned by the clerk thereof, payable to the person or persons,
firm or corporation entitled to receive such payment. There shall be
stated on the face of the warrant the purpose or service for which such
payment is drawn and also that such warrant is drawn pursuant to an
order entered or authority granted by the board on the............0.0000......
ay Of-n......eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees The warrant may be converted into a ne-
gotiable check when the name of the bank upon which the funds stated
in the warrant are drawn or by which the check is to be paid is designated
upon its face and is signed by the officer of the city charged by law with
the responsibility for the receipt, custody and disbursement of the funds
of the city.

The board may, in its discretion, appoint an agent by resolution
spread upon the record of its proceedings to examine and approve such
claims and, when approved by him, to order or authorize the payment
thereof. A record of such approval, order or authorization shall be
made and kept with the records of the board. Payment of each such
claim so examined and approved by such agent shall be ordered or au-
thorized by a warrant drawn on the officer of the city charged by law with
the responsibility for the receipt, custody, and disbursement of the funds
of the city. The warrant shall be signed by such agent and counter-
signed by the clerk of the board, payable to the person or persons, firm
or corporation entitled to receive such payment: provided, however, that
when the agent appointed by the board 1s the division superintendent of
schools and the said division superintendent and clerk is one and the
same person, all such warrants shall be countersigned by the chairman
of the board. There shall be stated on the face of the warrant the pur-
pose or service for which such payment is made and also that such war-
rant is drawn pursuant to authority delegated to such agent by the board
on the.........-....--eeeee ay Of .........eeeeceeeceeeeeeeeeeees The warrant may be con-
verted into a negotiable check in the same manner as 1s prescribed herein
for warrants ordered or authorized to be drawn by the school board.
The board shall require such agent to furnish the city a corporate surety
bond conditioned upon the faithful performance and discharge of the
duties imposed upon him herein. The board shall fix the amount of such
bond and the premium therefor shall be paid out of the school funds of
such city.

(14) It shall be the duty of the school board of every city, once
in each year, and oftener if deemed necessary, to submit to the council, in
writing, a classified report of all expenditures and a classified estimate
of what funds will be needed for the proper maintenance and growth of
the public schools of the city, and to request the council to make provisions
by appropriation or levy, for the same.

(15) To perform such other duties as shall be prescribed by the
State Board of Education or are imposed by other parts of this chapter.

(c) City school board shall, in general, have the same power in
relation to the condemnation or purchase of land and to the vesting of
title thereof, and also in relation to the title to and management of prop-
erty of any kind applicable to school purposes, whether heretofore or
hereafter set apart therefor, and however set apart, whether by gift.
grant, devise, or any other conveyance and from whatever source, as
county school boards have in the counties, and in addition thereto, they
shall have the further right and power to condemn not in excess of five
acres of land for any one school, when necessary for school purposes,
whether dwellings, yards, gardens or orchards be invaded or not. They
shall also have a clerk, who may or may not be a member of the board
and who shall be charged with the same duties as the clerk of a county
school board, and whose salary shall be fixed by the board.